Christmas been and gone.

Christmas passed... We had a good day. Psator Colin Lewis came and preached for us in the morning. Some people who usually come were ill, which was a shame, but attendance was still higher than usual.

On Boxing day we went to Reading. I must admit that I do not really like Christmas the way it is done in England. I love Dutch Cristmas, where Christmas is like a Sunday, a special day where you go to church twice, where you do not get presents to distract you etc. A day for God, to focus entirely on Christ's coming into the world. But we did have a nice time, it was good to see Richard's family.

Because of the holidays thoughts and wiorries about the school seemed to have been pushed to the background, which is good. It is nice to have a break, to know that there is nothing one can do! The relief of having a building is still there, and I feel I can relax a bit now. The building is in Hatherley, at the back of Alma Road, for those of you who know Cheltenham. It is now a flashy building, but it has a waterproof roof on, toilets, heating and a kitchen. So it is perfect for us, and it is in a quiet spot. I think the childrem were a little disappointed as they expected a school in a palace. Alas for them. An old scout hut will have to do, at least for a while. Who knows what God will provide next?

We have had some more money from Holland, which will pay for the first bill. Iwas so thrilled! I was expecting 170 euro, as that was what was written in the email I had. Then the magazine stated we had had 582, 50 euro. Together with the money from Holland we had already received that makes about 600 pound... I'm so grateful!

Now we need to find some preachers in the Cheltenham area who are prepared to take our chapel session, once a forthnight. There are many good preachers around in Cheltenham, so I pray that the right person will come on the right time! I am excited about it, and I hope many people will keep on praying for the school. Especially for more christian families to join the school, as soon as we are registered. We have 2 space at the moment, before we are registered. I pray another family will come and join very soon.

Also, pray that churches will let us contact them about the school, and allow us to come and speak to them, or to display some information about the school. We just would like the churches to join us in this. our ultimate aimis for a pastor in Cheltenhamto take over the school, so we can start a school in eastcombe, once we have our building back. But thatwill be a long proces, I think. At the moment we have to do what God asks us to do. To serve Him, regardless of the outcome, just as we serve Him in eastcombe, even though people here seem harder than rock, and are not interested in the Gospel at all. Jan has given out 500 ETs, all the houses in the village, and many given out to people personally. But only one man came, sad at heart and lonely. We were glad he came! But how sad the days we are in, that nobody seems to want to hear the Gospel of life! But we keep spreading seed, and praying for the people in the area.

Pray that the churches will be more open to outsiders, that they will be more willing to share the Goespel with strangers! Pray that we will be bold and loving, and that God will give us the right words to speak! Pray for more workers in our church, so that we can start a Sunday school at last, and that there will be more people to help during the week with the teenagers and children.

Well, the year is passing by quickly! It is exciting to wait and see what God will do in this year! He has been very good to us in the past year, I know we can trust Him in the next, however hard and dark it might seem now...

Dare I say it...?

Dare I say it? But I really believe we have a building! Praise God!

We went to see this Scout leader, and he showed us round the place. It was well kept really, maybe a bit old fashioned, but ok. I liked it, there is quite a lot of out door space, a big hall, and a small room where we can store things. He is really laid back, and told us that he saw no reason why we couldn't use the building... We settled on a price... and that was it... He has to speak to his committee, but they always do what he says, he assured us. He told us that we could more or less 100% see the place as ours. Well, during the day, of course, it doesn't mean that the scout hut belongs to us, but we have the rent of it...

I still can hardly believe it! It seems to be too good to be true! I still fear something will happen that will undo this decision...

But then I do let myself rejoice in this good NEWS!! That we will have a roof over our heads in January....!!! Thank God for His goodness to us!

There is just one nagging question in my mind: why is this Non-Christian the only one to be enthousiastic about our school, about us using the building for so little money, about having a Christian school?? Non of the churches we have approached were like that! The sounder the church, the worse the reaction.....! But this man, as soon as we rang him said: O, I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement! Most churches reacted the opposite way: we don't think you want to have a school in our building... Incredible... Am I wrong to think that somehow we have given satan too much footing in our churches and in our hearts? Do we think about education the way God looks at it, a preparation for eternity, Christ being the very centre of our schools? Of our hearts?
I find it very difficult. Having a Bible-based curriculum doesn't make your school a Christian school, although it is a help. But what does make a school a Christian School, where Christ is the centre and Head?

After a lonnnngggggggg time..

We have finally made the decision: we are to start in January... Problem is that we haven't got a building yet... Although we could start at our friend's house, but that wouldn't be ideal. So at the moment we are building hunting. None of the more switched-on churches will have us...Don't ask me why not. It's beyond me.

We've had quite a busy time really. We went to the Westminster Conference, which was really good, apart from the 'discussion times' which isn't a time for discussion, but for certain people to stand up and ramble on about their hobbyhorse. Needless to say I managed to constrain myself, I didn't get up and talk about Christian Education.... I must admit that the only lady that got up, although she said some really good things, she went on to long. That put me off, I could imagine people thinking to themselves: oh no, not another woman standing up to talk. So I didn't. But the lectures were very good indeed.

Just before we went we had made the decision to start in January, so as soon as we came back we were right in the midst of it... So many things to arrange and talk through! I do think I have most things sorted, it's just making the desks, and finding a building, so we really value your prayers on that. From Holland we have had 445 Euro for the school, so that at least is a start... We hope that we will get more in, as the articles I write every forthnight have an appeal for money in them, put there by the magazine owners, not by me...There has only been one appeal, so I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen on that front. What we need though is prayer support. People to wrestle in prayer for the school, especially now we haven't got a building, and we are hoping to start the second or third week of January...

Anyway, we had a good Sunday, and we will have our Carol service on Wednesday night.. Problem is that I have a cold, so my voice has more or less totally disappeared... which is great if you try to sing...suppose it's quite nice for a change to be a tenor instead of a soprano....